Red Velvet
by Kagami no Basuke
Summary: "You always take what is rightfully mine." AkaKuroKaga


**Red Velvet**

This is a teaser chapter. The first chapter will hopefully be up by Christmas Break(?).

Disclaimer: Disclaimers are unnecessary evil but I don't own anything, save the plot.

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If the world could present even greater torments, Taiga knew them not as he strolled into the sparsely lit parking lot of the bar he frequented. He dragged out a sigh as he pried the door to his Sedan open, keys free falling off his grasp from the obvious drunken stupor brought on about by the hours he wasted away on the counter. With eyes so slackened and tired, he gazed into the LCD screen of his phone and dwelled on whether he should call a friend or just stay in a nearby motel. He dialed a certain Kuroko Tetsuya but he pressed the end call button before he even breathed a word.

It had taken him a full thirty minutes before he decided to walk towards La Esperanza, where he had chosen to stay the night but by far, there were better choices for accommodations. However, the thinning control he had over his body was hardly enough to help him sustain his posture, much less fast-paced strides. He settled for the humble establishment that was closest to the vicinity and he pocketed his hands as a chilly updraft caressed his reddening cheeks. A glimpse of the flickering lights overhead gave the desolated streets an eerie aftereffect, which reminded him of olden ghost tales that Tatsuya, a childhood friend, used to share with him over the fireplace back in the States.

Stuck in a rather solemn reverie, he did not notice that his cell had been ringing and he picked it up almost a second too late. "Hello, this is Kagami speaking." He was amazed by how smoothly the words left him – formally, as if he were to conduct another business transaction – yet he found it disturbing somehow.

"Do you know what time it is, Kagami-kun?" The familiar, monotonous voice that filled Taiga's ears was comforting yet its uncharacteristic hardness spoke of subdued anger. There was the sound of dripping water, signaling that Tetsuya had just finished up with his routine shower, even when the autumn breeze had dipped a couple degrees lower since the last weather forecast that he had cared enough to watch. "Where are you right now?"

The taste of vodka matted the tip of his tongue as Taiga pushed down the sour bile which was rising to the back of his throat. He detested vulnerability and god forbid, he refused to allow anyone to witness his sorry state with his usual neatly-pressed dress shirt in a disheveled mess, his tie askew and forgotten. He slumped unceremoniously against the red brick walls and attempted to gather his composure, that which had become an ever-loyal ally in the face of the cut-throat real estate industry, but rarely when it really mattered.

He could only watch in complete horror as the heralded entrée and gold-crusted chocolate mousse, residents of the dinner with an associate that he had hours prior, left his insides as he retched violently on the sidewalk. His stomach was still doing several inversions as another wave of nausea washed over him, and he muttered a string of profanities against the cuffs of his sleeves. "**Shit.** I'm here at Red Velvet-"

"Still? Or are you elsewhere?" Tetsuya shuffled as he fetched his fur-lined jacket from the rack by the door and then slipping into a pair of shoes worn from use before he left the confines of his apartment. "Do not make a mess of your car seats, Kagami-kun."

Tetsuya was shaken by the lack of pedestrians but it was nigh midnight and nothing out of the normal altogether. He had the hand-knit scarf that Satsuki had given him a year past wound around his bare neck, and he reveled in the wealth of the material in fond recollection; it was her final gift for him, as she was to be wed to Daiki by the grace of the next spring.

Beyond the tinted windows, a brilliant orange haze cloaked the grey asphalt as cars zoomed from and out of his periphery of vision. The suburbs from whence he came had been lulled to a sleepy daze but the metropolitan birthed escapades which lasted from dusk till dawn. A sky livened by bright neons did not, and will never, rouse his interest in the slightest as he ran his fingers over silky, blue strands. He alighted from the last stop, and the laborious wheezing of the bus' exhaust diffused with the blaring car horns.

There was a dying cadence of sonorous jazz from the distance but Tetsuya whisked himself away, humming a distinct tune in its stead. Palms digging into the fabric of his jeans, the melody hitched then ebbed as his chest heaved erratically. "Kagami-kun?" When Taiga's attempt to speak broke into a million splinters, Tetsuya felt a ghost of a sob erupting, about to, at the back of his throat. "Kagami-kun," he reiterated, each syllable painfully slithering through chapped lips.

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**Author's Notes:** Hello! Uhm, this is not really a happy fan fiction. Not at all, so I advise you to turn back now if you dislike these sorts of sob stories. Just a quick touch-up, this involves KagaKuro and a one-sided AkaKuro. There will also be a slight mention of AoKise and reversible!TakaMido. I didn't throw Atsushi out of the loop, in fact, he'll be cameo-ing as well.


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